When The Cold Wind Blows
by rainbow.room
Summary: The pain, the roof, the cold wind blowing. 2012. - Non-romance.


This..is a little different. I call it my heart and soul in what was supposed to be a drabble.

_Reviews would be nice._

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Ice; sheets of it. Crushed. Crystals falling. Everywhere, iceland. He should have been able to feel the cold, but his alice prevented it._ He should have been able to feel it_. She could, breath fogging and falling, climbing the roof covered from head to toe. Everything fell in crystals; it was too cold. He should have felt it; it was a damn cold night. And a dark one too. But something about the shroud of night and the lack of stars calmed him. Breathing deeply, in and out. Laboured and wheezing, his eyes unfocused. As she climbed up, stepping over the unstable roofing, unfocused eyes seemed to stare into her, red and wounded like his whole self.

She rarely ever went up, only when the moon was new and the night was at its darkest. She had never seen him up there before, but she knew that his room was somewhere just below them, so she wasn't that surprised. She didn't understand how he could have found his way up, but she ignored the fact and looked over him and back towards the absent horizon. He reached out a hand, calling for her.

"Hyuuga," she nodded curtly, eyes never moving away from his face, pretending not to notice. He didn't greet her, but was perversely calmed by her presence. The pain grew numb as she came closer to him.

Then it was silent, as it had always been between them. Breathing deeply, in and out. Without asking, she sat beside him, shoulders touching and hair swaying together in a black curtained breeze.

Anybody stupid enough liked to call them siblings, even twins. She would shoot them if he did not throw a fireball first; they weren't anything alike. With her cold amethyst eyes to match his burning ruby glare. His sun kissed to match her moonlit skin. It was their lips that were similar: ever still, never smiling. Even now, a small frown altered the beauty of her face as a grimace ripped through him. She didn't touch him, wouldn't ask him if he was alright. She knew. Even the darkness couldn't hide a dying light.

"You know," he started, taking a breath in between. She dipped her head, acknowledging that she probably did know. "You're the smartest out of all of them. Learning not to care about me, never loving me like the others."

Then she trained her eyes on him, twisting her head and shadowing him from the dim light. It was hard to catch his ruby orbs, uncertainty forced him to look away. He finally shifted, his head tipping up, and she saw something in his eyes, she saw the uncertainty and beyond that.

Hands touched for the first time and he tensed at the gentle hold, easing back as she traced a fresh cut. He would have snatched his hand away but he felt no pain, finally looking at her, actually looking. His eyes raked over her face, memorising details that he had not known in his five years. The night had softened her scowl, the snow drenched scenery making her all the more angelic. She watched him as well, looking over the worst, calculating. Their hair moved as one, eyes flicking everywhere, always searching, always waiting. Breathing deeply, in and out.

"You may be a genius but you're as stupid as your girlfriend," Hotaru finally whispered. Then she laughed, bitterly sweet and perversely beautiful. He allowed himself a small smile at that, accomplishing something that others rarely could. It was a moment to share between them, something that had never happened before. Things were changing.

He placed a warning hand on her shoulder once he had finally looked up to meet her head on. His red eyes seemed to say don't. She shrugged at him, apologising but not really. He breathed out, then looked away. Hotaru shook her head at Natsume, frustratedly amused, but closed her eyes anyway, blinking away the wetness that threatened to fall. Her hand slipped out of his as she hugged her knees in closer, pressing her chin down. How long had they been there? She knew they had sat there for hours in silence, something that they were both good at, something they both preferred.

"Natsume," She called his attention, breaking the suddenly strained silence, tasting his name thoughtfully, the first and last time. "Are you afraid?"

He flinched at the honest compassion in her tone and the uncharacteristic use of his name. His eyes narrowed but she looked back at him and he could see only the reflection of fire in his own eyes. Her hair billowed out again, darker than the darkness, shadowing them both. But still, he saw the flames, ever watching.

"I am always afraid," he answered her, looking straight into her amethyst and deeper, to where her own fear was brewing. For good measure, he spoke her own name, foreign to his lips but not unpleasant. Then she nodded, turning her inquisitive eyes away from him and into the nothingness. Once more it was silent as they waited. Breathing deeply, in and out. The longer she sat, the more alert she became. The silence had its own sounds, and she listened through the cold ache in her bones. Unconsciously she traced his cuts again. He couldn't feel it; he couldn't feel anything.

A breeze gusted into her face, a harsh chill that made her shiver deep into her soul. He hadn't even realized that his arm had gone around her until she tucked herself further into him. They counted seconds, minutes, hours. Until the blood of sunrise came and went, until she was shivering no longer and he was numb to the pain no more. And when it was over, Hotaru stood, his arm slipping from her and falling with a harsh slap. Then she made her way down, looking out at the ice, beautiful and cold like the plunging fear in her soul. He had stopped watching her, eyes so unfocused that he could not see even the cold. His alice was doing a good job of keeping him warm.

Her hand held the rung, feeling the ice bite through the leather. Gripping tightly, the other was balled in a frustrated fist. Breathing deeply, in and out. She gazed at the white around her and tried her hardest not to look back up, tears freezing on her face.

_Are you afraid?_


End file.
